We are a hard working family in northern California dedicated to creating a more self-sufficient, sustainable, eco-friendly way of life.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Designing the Garden

When Taylor and I were designing the garden, we had one thing in mind, to keep the deer out. The deer in our area are known for crushing gardener's dreams of a lush and fertile crop, so we figured that a ten foot perimeter fence should keep them out. When we started building the garden, I learned all about making the frame level and plume, how to use a reciprocating saw, how to cut a board manually, and how to rototill the ground. After digging up the ground, which was mostly dry clay, we added three cubic yards of compost which we bought from Sonoma Compost, out in Petaluma. Now, if you've been buying compost in the tiny 5 pound bags, you are getting ripped off. It's all about bulk compost, and Sonoma Compost is the place to go. The drive is also quite beautiful and on a sunny day, you feel like you are in some pastoral paradise.

The lesson I learned from amending the soil with three cubic yards of active compost, let the soil sit for up to a month before planting the seeds. We were running out of time and only let the soil sit for a week and a half, and we attribute this to our minimal yield, that, and overcrowding.